Florida Keys

What’s that smell in the Florida Keys? It’s coming from Cuba, weather forecasters say

Haze and smoke can be seen in the distance south of the Bahia Honda Railroad Bridge in the Lower Florida Keys Friday morning, March 3, 2023. National Weather Service Key West forecasters say it’s from Cuban sugarcane fires more than 90 miles away.
Haze and smoke can be seen in the distance south of the Bahia Honda Railroad Bridge in the Lower Florida Keys Friday morning, March 3, 2023. National Weather Service Key West forecasters say it’s from Cuban sugarcane fires more than 90 miles away. National Weather Service Key West

We’ve all smelled smoke in the South Florida air. Usually it’s from the burning Everglades or a brush fire in the neighborhood.

But the hazy skies and burning smell Friday in the Florida Keys had a different source — one 90 miles away.

Whipping winds sent in smoke from sugarcane fields of Cuba, according to the National Weather Service in Key West.

“Due to the southeast to south winds, the smoke from the sugarcane field fires in Cuba [has] been transported northward,” the weather service said. “This means that the smoke and smell has traveled more than 90 miles to reach the Florida Keys.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 11:34 AM.

Profile Image of David Goodhue
David Goodhue
Miami Herald
305-923-9728
David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware. 
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